Diane Abbott took donation from Muslim charity barred from receiving Government cash over alleged extremism links

October 8, 2016

Diane Abbott, the new shadow home secretary, took a donation from a charity group alleged to have links with extremist groups.

The Muslim Charities Forum was banned from receiving government aid after an investigation suggested links to a group alleged to fund Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood political movement, as well as poor performance in delivering against agreed objectives.

Ms Abbott accepted a £5,000 donation in kind from the organisation, which paid for her and an assistant to fly to Nairobi as part of a trip to Somaliland.

Ms Abbott said: “In April of this year I visited Somaliland as shadow secretary of state for international development to see for myself the effects of the drought. It is not a single organisation, but an umbrella group for 10 Muslim aid organisations. . . I have never knowingly worked with an Islamic extremist organisation.”

Last year Eric Pickles, then the communities secretary, announced the Muslim Charities Foundation would be stripped of all Government funding as part of a crackdown into Islamic Extremism.

He said: “Following a formal departmental review of the project, which included examination of the organisation’s poor performance in delivering against agreed objectives, and further allegations raised by the Telegraph, the decision was taken to terminate finding. Concerns have also been raised about events held by member organisations, at which individuals with extremist views have been invited to speak. . . our resolve to cease funding any organisation that supports or is linked to individuals who fuel hatred, division and violence.”

The Muslim Charities Foundation is an umbrella group made up of a number of different groups which was set up in 2007. In 2014 The Telegraph revealed evidence that one of the charities within the group was alleged to have channeled funds to eight organisations linked to the terrorist groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Others were alleged to have links to the extremist group Muslim Brotherhood.